villan_avfc

almost as bad as your claim that parking at the brit is pretty much impossible and that those who've found spaces have been lucky. honestly, do you attend our away games in a constant daze or something?!

why mick, are you one of the decorators they've drafted in? the beehive won't be open, they're renovating.

that's a dream! i did quite well on my ticket when i booked it a couple of days ago. put in nottingham to horwich parkway return with a railcard and they wanted to charge me 30 quid. so entered nottingham to manc pic return and manc pic to horwich pway return and in total it's come to just over 15. getting quite good at finding myself cheap deals now and must have saved hundreds over the past 6 months what with constantly using the trains to get home or to go to villa games. infact, this will be the third time in the space of nine days that i've used manchester piccadilly station when i hadn't done so previously. can you get free trains anywhere then?

you must have really little legs i love the cider myself but doesn't look like i'll get the chance to go in there this time around given i'm arriving at piccadilly at twenty to seven from nottingham.

it's a half hour walk, tops. ----------- it was good in there before the last away game of the season. really good infact. but was crap before the december game with very few villa in there, but equally pretty much no citeh either. if you've got maps on your phone then that might be quite handy, otherwise just head east past the printworks and find the a665. there'll be signs for 'manchester sports arena' or similar and it won't be long before the stadium itself comes into view. alternatively, get a taxi for six quid.

you'll get one with ease shoody..

thanks sellyoak, we definitely have a h&m.

thanks stevo, i'm actually in nottingham at uni but i'm sure we'll have one of those shops here. will have a look on the site!

they can **** right off. i was on their site the other night and the same deal is being offered to everyone. if they were to say 'show up on the day with your match ticket and get in for a tenner' it might be worth it. not for that price though.

anyone know where i can get a makoun-esque sweater on the high street in all the usual stores? want a sleeveless one for pub golf tomorrow. help would be much appreciated!

we always tend to take the 1800 allocation. our support numbers wise at goodison is generally pretty poor. though, in that lower tier, we don't half make a lot of noise! hopefully this time though we'll sell the 1800 pretty quickly and take the upper tier and sell that as well.

just realised i know the howard, saw it when i went to look at sheffield hallam in october 09 with it being a minute's walk from the main uni entrance. walked from there to some accommodation by bramall lane. probably a 15-20 minute walk so not bad. looking forward to it. maloney, it depends. we usually go to a pub beforehand and get to the ground 10-15 mins before kick off and into the stands as the players are coming onto the pitch. obviously when there's no pubs we'll go to the ground a little earlier and have a sing and a drink in the concourse. unless that is you're at reading where there's no pubs for miles around and when you get inside the aptly named john smiths stand, there's no alcohol being served. personally, i really don't see the appeal of getting to a ground more than half an hour before kick off but a lot of people do.

the sinclairs oyster bar in the city centre was packed inside and out with villa and man city fans alike before last season's game. some quality banter, our fans were top notch with all the shoppers watching us, and it was nice to see the faces on the citeh fans as we took the piss out of their history and such like. nice setting by a big shopping arcade, the cathedral, the wheel, and the pub is an old tudor building. good lagers and ciders. i'd had quite a bit to drink that day but if i remember rightly a cab to the ground only took about ten minutes tops and cost 6 quid in total. shared with a couple of other villa fans we met at sinclairs. if you were to walk it, that'd be pretty easy too and would only take 25 mins i think (we walked back in that direction after the game). we'll try and head there before the game.

announcement at 10am apparently. having read lots of comments from wigan fans living in the area, there's not a chance this game will go ahead.

when the going gets tough, villa fans do a steve sidwell...

cringeworthy looking at westbrom.com and all the comments about young diving. i'm his biggest critic and hate all the diving around on the floor he does but he's cut that out of his game a lot lately and there was certainly none of it today. they targeted him every single time he had the ball and indeed took him clean out most times too to the point it became laughable. it's just the same tired old shite we hear from all the midlands small fry every year. gabby whore this, young diving that. it's just ingrained in their ridiculously small minds and becomes something they have to say when they play us. embarrassing.

i watched the ten minute bill on bbc parliament on tuesday and listened to the debate - well, i say debate, but nigh on everyone was in favour of it as all polls have shown and nobody could offer up any counter arguments - on radio 5live this morning. victoria derbyshire, despite being a stupid bint, and constantly cutting in with breaking news regarding that horrible circus in the north east, was clearly in favour of it. don foster has always been an excellent advocate of safe standing and despite this having a 0% chance of becoming law (to quote don from r5live this morning and indeed the evidence of past ten minute bills) the profile of the campaign will be and indeed already has been raised by it all. can't agree that most liverpool fans and those associated with the hillsborough disaster back it though, mons. liverpool fans and north west mps alike take a very dim view of bringing back standing. anne williams, whom i quoted on that fsf status, is the only person i know of who has come out and made a statement like that and i've been researching all this for years. you only have to look at the disgusting way trevor hicks behaved in front of the kop on the 20 year anniversary and the way in which he used his time to honour those who died, including his two daughters, to berate and attempt to disgrace the liverpool fans who travel up and down the country and stand up and support their team, to see that standing is still very much not supported right down to the core of the hillsborough support group. and i've lost count of the number of times i've heard north west based mps come out with the same drivel and outdated criticisms that the fla, the premier league, past ministers for sport, excluding kate hoey, front up, as don himself has claimed. also, if you want to back the campaign and the fsf then i suggest having the logo of the stand up sit down campaign group on the banner also, would be a good idea. they're, nay, we're the ones who have campaigned for this for years, written numerous letters, tuned in and added to numerous debates on the matter - not the fsf - who only recently have taken a more active role in backing the campaign, preferring to first get the twenty year anniversary of hillsborough out the way as well as the general election this year, as they told us on the forums. had quite a fiery exchange with the general on this issue not long ago; as usual he was very generic and chose not to put his or the club's cards on the table whatsoever and came across as having not one clue about the issue. good to see there's a lot of people backing it on vt.

let's pretend we've scored a goal x4 3-0 and you **** it up easy easy easy we're gonna win the league, we're gonna win the league at least there's one aspect of the club that is still class - our away fans. fair play lads.

only a short train journey for me given i'm based at nottingham trent uni currently. cheap aswell. loving that draw. should take and sell the full allocation with it being just over an hour on the train from birmingham and about a tenner in cost, return. can't wait!

i even put question marks in there, general. :winkold:

It's like your account has been hijacked by the FLA and they're reading us the party line. on your first paragraph, why is it that known persistent standers are allowed to take 4200 to the sty (not us though, of course) yet when the same teams come to villa park they have the usual allocation of 2800 cut to 2300/2400. does that not show favouritism towards birmingham city football club? secondly, it hasn't 'eventually' caused repercussions. we've had our allocations cut a number of times in the past so i'm not sure why you think that claiming you've written about persistent standing on numerous occassions means you've somehow enlightened us in this instance. this cut in numbers has just gained a lot more attention because of what match it is and the way in which the ruling seems to show some bias against our club; again, why is it that 4200 united, liverpool, chelsea, citeh, west ham fans can occupy the railway end whilst standing for ninety minutes yet it is deemed that only 3800 villa will be safe in that same end? it doesn't make sense, does it? as for it not being worth discussion, in a recent poll, it was shown that 94.2% would like to see safe standing areas implemented in the UK. so clearly you shouldn't be so dismissive...these fans are the ones who put money into the club and it's a debate that rages on with the majority of football fans clearly backing the idea. pretty disgraceful response, that, from a club that prides itself on its interaction with the fans. it's a simple, pointless, flawed regulation, general. the FLA quango isn't needed and hopefully the new coalition will see that. they're certainly looking into it as david cameron himself has talked about. and if you'd like to send me the ground regs i'll happily delete the part about standing in all seater stadia. hardly like 'trying to push a wet noodle up an incline'. and no, it isn't a pipe dream. what are the threats that the council, its SAG, and the FLA can make? closure to a stand or part of a stand or revoking a club's safety certificate. for action such as this (or in deed any action) to be taken, they must prove in court that the action being taken is in proportion to the risks involved. there is not one single piece of evidence to suggest that seating is safer than standing and nobody has been seriously injured because they've been standing in a seated area. in the case of man united, it never even got that far. it's plain to see from the above that they'd have won the case and as such trafford borough council decided to back away from the situation. that's the problem with people in this country, they don't know their rights and will go along with anything somebody in an official role tells them. most people are still under the impression that it is illegal to stand at a football match. so i ask again, what is the club's stance on the possibility of safe standing areas in football grounds? would the club welcome them? would the club back them in a vote as the previous regime would have done? as i say, this is an answer i would like (and i'm sure many others would too) from the club, not a throw away comment from you about it not being worthy of discussion. thanks.

to clear some things up. blues had their allocation cut at villa park this season, as have many other teams over the past few seasons. it would seem the council have turned their attention from the back of the upper holte to the away support in recent years. general, it would have been nice if blues and villa could've pulled together on this one with blues just giving us the 15% despite what the council said. they're working on the FLA's principle; a principle that is totally flawed and one that has been shown up as being nothing about fan safety, but more about being able to control fans in the stands with cctv and the like. the local authorities and FLA safety officers like to think they have all this power but in reality they don't. do you really think they'd revoke the safety certificate for grounds like villa park and the sty: stadiums that offer so much to the community and bring people to the city of birmingham? i implore the club to fight this next time they attempt to cut the allocation of away teams at villa park, thus reducing our income. villa fans who have been to old trafford or eastlands will know both clubs have home supporters that stand up for the entirety of the match. years back now the council tried to close parts of the stretford end - man united asked them to prove standing was unsafe and they couldn't do it. and regarding the fans that stand next to the away fans at eastlands, man city's stadium manager wrote to the council telling them that fans would be standing and singing next to the away supporters and the club and its stewards would be making no attempt to get them to sit. the club have faced no repercussions. and numerous other clubs now have these 'singing areas' which, in layman's terms, translates to 'the fans will stand and sing in this area, and there's nothing you can do about it'. even the whole terminology about it is a load of tosh. allowed to stand in 'moments of excitement'? who's to judge when somebody is excited or not. i made this point to a steward at white hart lane the other week who was constantly trying to get us to sit down and despite almost being ejected from the ground, he seemed to take my point on board. i also wonder if you could make an enquiry as to why the council constantly deem it unsafe for 2800 away supporters to stand at villa park (cutting it to 2300 and 2400 over the past few seasons) yet will allow 4200 liverpool, man united, arsenal, spurs, west ham, man city into the sty; all of whom stand for the entirety of the match. nothing like a bit of favouritism. perhaps if the two clubs were more clued up on all of this, it wouldn't have come back to 'bite' us on the arse. if you want the villa to have an away support that doesn't support the team at all and sits in silence for ninety minutes then the blue scousers are the blueprint you'll wish to follow. finally, i'd like to ask if the club still support the idea of safe standing areas. not long before you arrived the guardian asked all premier league clubs if they supported it and villa were one of very few to respond saying that they would back it. now with a change in ownership, do the villa still back the idea of safe standing areas within the ground?

09:28 from nottingham arriving 11:19 at st pancras. easy tube trip from there so plenty of drinking time! edit: 08:28 so even more drinking time! better get to bed though.

good good. was worried we were going to have another stoke/sunderland situation whereby they tell us we're not far from a sell out only to find there were actually hundreds of tickets left for both. :|

Stoke was a mystery but I have to defend the Spurs thing because we did sell out our alllocation it's just the allocation was very small, I noticed they give everyone it now apart from Man Utd and CL games. if we'd (or any team for that matter) have wanted full 3000 allocation we could have had it. fact is we struggled to sell the 1700 the club took and couldn't have sold too many more. odd considering 3000 tickets to arsenal will sell out in minutes every year. arsenal, liverpool and chelsea always have the full allocation. among others. united have had their's cut a couple of times at whl however for persistent standing.